Look at these toys!

With the help of Christ's Church and our friends and family, we have seen all these toys come in for the orphans in Asia! I can just imagine their delight when they reach their little hands out to receive these gifts. What a fun day that will be! Thank you all for these gifts!

Dolls, puzzles, purses, trucks, blocks, games, stuffed animals, slinkys, play jewelry, action figures, crayons, balls, socks, shampoo, books, and toys of all sorts!

"Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." James 1:27

Gathering Toys for Orphans

We are so very excited to get to spend a few days at an orphanage on this outreach (see our team and us below). God has been burdening our hearts with His love for these children that He created. There are around 25 children in this orphanage. We have planned a 3 day VBS for these kids and have all kinds of special activities, projects, songs, and games planned for them. It will be exciting for them for sure! We are now gathering supplies for the VBS and gifts to leave with the children when we leave. Your small gifts will mean the world to these kids who have so little!

A special project that God has laid on our hearts has us excited. Many orphans have few or no photos of themeselves during their childhood. You can imagine what that must be like as they grow older. So we are going to take a backdrop and set up a small "studio" and take individual photos of each child. Then we are going to print out the photos and have the children make "All About Me" booklets where they paste in the photos and write their favorite things in the book. They will have this to keep for themselves.

Just 4 weeks to go!

Hi! Our whole team has gotten so excited for what God is going to do on this outreach. It's obvious that He has been working to put this outreach together. Just last week our team needed more than $12,000 and now our team needs only $3000! Wow! God has been showing Himself faithful - and showing us that He is going to do great things! Thank you so much for what you have given, and for being a part of this with us. Our family still needs around $1000, but we know He will provide. He has already shown us that! Praise God!
Lacy and Keith

See "The Vision" Page

We finally got our vision page up and running. Take a look and have the question answered: Why YWAM?

Outreach Updates

It has been just two or three weeks since we first posted about our upcoming outreach to Asia (details below), but in that short time we have seen a lot of support for our outreach come in! Praise God! It has been hugely encouraging, and we know that God is leading us, and confirming it with His provision. We only still need around $2000 and some clothes for the outreach. All three of us need some long-underwear, warm shoes, sweatshirts, and wool socks. We are certain that God has been providing and will provide all that we need! Pray for us as we continue to watch God do miracles. We are so excited about the souls He will save as a result of this outreach! We will be buying our plane tickets in the next few weeks!
Keith and Lacy

DTS Students Lives Changed

Today in our small group, we were debriefing together. The question was: What is the biggest thing that God has done in your life during your discipleship training school? Here is what they said:

"God has done so much in my life during DTS. The biggest thing has to be that I have learned how to have a quiet time, have been consistent with spending that time with God, and now I can hear God when He speaks to me. Now I am excited about spending time alone with God and before I know it, an hour has gone by."

"God also did a lot in me about quiet times during this DTS. But another area that has been huge in my life has been forgiveness. Being able to forgive [those who have hurt me] has really brought new freedom into my life. I'm not angry like I used to be, and I feel like this has opened up a lot for me in the area of relationships with others."

"During the first months of DTS I was allowing God to work in my heart, but I was holding Him out of some areas. Saying "God, I'll let You in, but You can only affect these certain areas of my life." Last week I really broke down before the Lord and allowed Him into those areas. Because I am a follower of Jesus, I have given up what I used to consider my rights - the right to be angry, the right to not forgive. God showed me places of unforgiveness in my heart, and then brought the opportunity for me to ask for forgivessness for the unforgiveness that I had against my dad. I have had healing in some important relationships in my life. Also, I am learning that I cannot do everything on my own, and that I need people."

"I have had so much pride in my life. I have judged people and been bad to them. This week God showed me my heart, and I am so sorry for the pride and sin I have done towards others. I want to learn how to love others as He loves them. Also, last week I really was deeply affected by the prayer times and times of forgiving others who have hurt us. Though I have asked others for forgiveness, they have not asked me...but this was my chance to forgive them and let go of it even if they don't ask for forgiveness."

There are many more testimonies like these from our students in DTS. Through 12 weeks of intensive teaching, a lifestyle of devotion to God, times of prayer and worship, and relational discipleship, God has brought about healing, conviction and freedom from sin, relational restoration, forgiveness, intimacy with God, and a hunger to know Him more in the lives of the students. Praise God for what He has done! For more about DTS, visit:
http://www.ywam.org/contents/get_tra_dts.htm

Keith and Lacy